SDG #9 is to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”
Within SDG #9 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 9.2:
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries
Target 9.2 has two indicators:
Indicator 9.2.1: Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita
Indicator 9.2.2: Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment
Manufacturing value added is the dollar value of all the manufacturing output, minus any inputs. The world leader in manufacturing as a proportion of GDP as of 2022 is Ireland, with 38%, followed by Algeria, with 35%. Manufacturing as a part of gross world product was 16% in 2022, about the same since 2015 at the adoption of the SDGs. The more an economy develops, the further it tends to move away from manufacturing toward services. In the least developed countries, their economies instead have a high proportion of primary industry. Examples are agriculture, forestry, fishing, and resource extraction, which offer less value-added. This target has asked for manufacturing to double in the least developed countries. As a proxy for the least developed countries, manufacturing was 11% of the share of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa, up only 1% since the adoption of the Goals. In South Asia, manufacturing is 14% of the region’s GDP, a 1% decrease since 2015.
The leader in employment in manufacturing as a share of all employment is China, consisting of 28% of all jobs as of 2021. The worldwide share is 13%, about the same since the adoption of the Goals. For the least developed countries, the share was 8%, again unchanged since 2015.
